Last Hope for the 'Stop Trump' Lobby After Cruz Gaffe
WASHINGTON: The decisive battle for the Republican nomination is about to be fought in the unlikely setting of Indiana, the quintessential mid-Western "flyover" state, which holds its primary on Tuesday.
The contest will probably be the last stand of the "stop Donald Trump" movement. Ted Cruz, the billionaire's leading opponent, voiced his "great comfort" that the nomination would be settled by a state imbued with "mid-Western common sense".
But the Texas senator trails Mr Trump in the polls - and a recent gaffe will not have helped his cause. Mr Cruz held a rally in a basketball court, remarking that "basketball rings in Indiana" were the "same height as it is in New York City and every other place in this country". But Mr Cruz's laboured attempt to sound folksy provoked mirth. Instead of "rings", he should have said "basket", "hoop" or "rim".
Donald Trump, by contrast, secured the support of an Indiana basketball legend who could have a pivotal influence on the result. Bobby Knight, 75, is even more prone to volcanic outbursts than Mr Trump.
Over 30 years, Mr Knight led the Indiana Hoosiers, the state's college basketball team, to national titles, while also being criminally charged with punching a policeman, throwing chairs onto the court and throttling a player. He took a break in 1984 to coach the USA men's Olympic basketball team, who promptly won gold medals.
"I don't think there's ever been a better prepared man to enter the White House," said Mr Knight at a Trump rally. "Mr Trump will take care of it. Indiana, you can make a decision that will go right along with our founding fathers and George Washington."
Turning on Mr Cruz, he said: "A guy that would come into this state and think that we played with rings instead of baskets is not a guy that's very well prepared to do a whole hell of a lot."
Mr Cruz tried to recover by saying that his high-school coach would have been "horrified" by his mistake.
An aggregate of recent polls in Indiana show a neck--and--neck race, with Mr Trump leading by only 2 per cent, according to Real Clear Politics.